


Starts

by thackyearwicket



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: M/M, Post-Zayn One Direction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 23:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4938067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thackyearwicket/pseuds/thackyearwicket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn calls Liam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starts

It's early, when Zayn calls, probably late where he is, if he's still in LA. Liam doesn't hesitate to pick up.

"Hey." His voice sounded groggy from just waking up.

"Hey," Zayn says, and Liam thinks it sounds about as scratchy as his own.

There was a second of silence, and normally that'd be fine, for them, but in the moment, it felt like a crate of bricks on Liam's chest.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No, no, you're fine," Liam lied.

"I did, didn't I? You should go back to sleep. Show tonight, probably. I can call back later."

It was always strange to Liam how easily Zayn saw right through him.

"It's _fine_ Zayn. Let's chat."

He heard Zayn sigh, and Liam probably would have done the same if it didn't feel like his air was being punched out of him.

Zayn's voice dropped down, "I miss you, y'know. And the lads."

Liam followed along, "Yeah, we miss you too. I miss you."

It'd been a while since Zayn and the other boys talked, a few months at any guess. Liam thought he'd probably talked to Zayn the most out of the rest of them, but he wasn't about to ask. He barely talked to Zayn as it was. He wanted to give him space, let him be who he needed without his old bandmates weighing him down. He waited for Zayn to talk to him first, after he'd left, because he didn't want to intrude. That first Time waiting was probably the hardest, with the probably hundred almost texts or almost calls Liam'd made. He wasn't really very patient with his heart. They talked a bit, in the beginning, all of them, but they had to stop. Or, that's what Liam told himself. It hurt less to think he was doing something to help Zayn by not talking to him. It was probably true anyway.

"Anything new happening?"

"Uh," Liam cleared his throat, "don't think so. Same old same old 'round here."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Of course it wasn't the same without Zayn around, but it got easier to patch over the holes.

"Anything new happening with you?"

"Yeah, tons. But, um, you don't have to hear about it, if, like..."

"I wanna hear it."

A pause, then, "Well, been working on my album a lot. I really want it to be good, y'know? I wanna take my Time with this one, make it something I'm proud of. I went out to the woods for some real recordin' shit too."

" _You_ went out in the woods?"

"Fuck off it, Leeyum."

Liam could feel the giggle bubbling up inside him before it came out of his mouth. He couldn't help it. It was still always so easy to talk to Zayn. It was nice to hear his name from Zayn. No one else really said it like he did. It was comforting.

"I went out on a boat too. On the water and everything."

He mock gasped, "Did you go and learn to swim without me? I'm a little offended; thought that was gonna be my job."

Zayn was the one to laugh this Time, and it was just as comforting as hearing his name, "Nah, you can still do that sometime."

"Yeah, sometime."

"I don't really want to die being known as that boy who couldn't swim, so yeah, 'm gonna need lessons from somebody I know won't let me drown."

"Sometime. It's a promise."

"Sometime."

There were another couple beats of silence, but they didn't feel as heavy anymore.

"Are you happy? Really?"

"Yeah, I am. It feels like...like I'm doing what I was meant to do."

They talked for another hour, music, speculating on what happened in all the cool movies they missed because of work, dogs, Halloween costumes, and when they hung up, Liam didn't want to go back to sleep. He started his day.


End file.
